Supervisor feedback as a strategic HR practice to improve organizational performance

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2018 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Aarhus (Management), language: English, abstract: This study will examine this relationship empirically on a selected case to find out, whether supervisor feedback can be seen as a suitable means to improve business performance. Accordingly, the research question for this paper is the following: How can organizational performance be influenced by the relation between supervisor feedback and employee behaviors and attitudes? In times of fast changing work environments and demanding tasks for employees it is highly important to take actions and adjust the organization's strategy to still secure a competitive advantage and high-performance outcome especially when competing in a market with strong competitors. Further, employees' mindsets have changed over the last years and social criteria in their work environment are now more important than financial rewards. This is why the relationship between supervisor and employee is of increased importance and more and more employees yearn for personal development and responsibility to satisfy their individual needs. Based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs prestige and the feeling of accomplishment is the last step before an individual demands self-fulfilling needs and can achieve one's full potential. Hence, organizations should pay attention to satisfy this need in order to allow employees reaching the top level and add the highest value to the organization. Based on that, researchers within Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) have been encouraged 'to explore whether and how Human Resource practices [...] affect employee attitudes and behaviors in ways that may further business strategy' (Storey, 2007, p. 173). SHRM provides guidance on how key issues of HRM can be managed strategically in the sense that they support the realization of the company's goals. This relationship between bundles of Human Resource (HR) practices, also called High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS), and behaviors is influenced by various employee attitudes.